Right, this is really just the end of Chapter 2 (?) so it might not make much sense on its own. Happy reading!
Ray watched carefully as Kai stumbled into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa.

"How are you?" he asked cautiously.

"Sober...ish." was Kai's reply, his voice muffled from the cushion he had buried his head in. Ray laughed softly. "Thanks." He looked at Kai, startled.

"Thanks for what?"

"For stopping me. I would've been really embarrassed if you'd seen me drunk."

"I did."

"No…properly drunk…Ebs, explain please." Kai pleaded, rolling over to face the cat, which had sat down comfortably next to him.

Kai classifies himself as thoroughly pissed when the room starts changing shape. Or when he hits the floor, whichever comes first. Ebony purred, nuzzling Kai affectionately. Ray winced, imagining it.

"Yeah, not so nice, huh?" Kai mumbled, slowly pulling himself upright. "Bloody alcohol, always makes me sleepy…" He rubbed his temples wearily.

"You want to go to bed, then?" Ray asked. Kai shook his head.

"Not yet. S'only, what, half-nine? You got anything that might keep me awake for a bit?"

Oh, I'm sure I could think of a few things - Shut it, brain! Great, now I'm talking to my own head. This day just keeps getting better and better! Ray stopped himself from going completely off the subject, and thought. His face suddenly lit up.

"Yeah, I've got something. Wait there." He dashed out of the room, barely even hearing Kai's grumpy "Like I'm gonna go anywhere."


The second that Ray was gone, Kai rolled over and jammed his hand down the side of the sofa. Sharp claws pressing into his neck made him stop abruptly.

You touch that bottle, Kai, and I'll call Ray.

"But, Ebs!" Kai pleaded."I need another drink!"

No you don't!

"I do! I need to forget about…" He trailed off. Ebony narrowed her eyes.

Forget about what, Kai? she asked icily.

"About…" He trailed off again. How could he tell Ebony what he needed to forget? He needed to forget about how Ray had leaned on him, how it had felt to hold the semiconscious boy in his arms, the trust in those beautiful, enchanting amber eyes, how it had felt when Ray's soft, cool hand had rested on his cheek. He needed to forget, because otherwise he would start to get ideas that weren't going to happen, couldn't ever happen. Drink was the only thing that would blank it out, would numb the feelings... He pushed his hand further down inside the sofa.

Kai. I don't gave a damn what you need to forget. Ray made an effort to stop you, so, for his sake at least, don't do it!

Shaking off the cat's annoying voice, Kai reached once again for the bottle.


"Told you he would, didn't I, Ebony?" He started guiltily. Ray stood in front of him, arms folded. "See? I told you he'd go back for it." Ray's voice was cold. Kai gaped at him, in shock. "So, Kai. By all means, go and get it. You can drink until you pass out for all I care." Kai just stared. Ray's eyes were hard, disappointed, the normal vibrant glow faded. "Go on, then. It's what you wanted." Feebly, he pulled himself upright and sat as far away from the bottle as he could get, shaking his head.

"It's not what I wanted." His voice was a mere whisper. "I don't drink…just because I can…I do it to…forget."

"So do most people." Ray said flatly. "What makes you any different?"

I've got so much more to forget about. Kai said silently. He opened his mouth, closed it again.

"I can't say why." he said finally. "But believe me, I won't touch another drop tonight." He could see Ray looking at him sceptically. "I won't." he repeated firmly. Ray's face relaxed.

"Good. I trust you." he smiled. "Now do you want to know what I do to forget?"

"Show me." Kai challenged. Ray bowed.

"As you wish!" He walked over to the brown/black chair, (not even Kai knew what colour it was), and picked up something that was lying there. Kai looked, and blinked in surprise. Ray was holding an acoustic guitar.

"You play?" he asked.

"A little." Ray said humbly, but the excited gleam in his eyes told Kai something different. With a grin, Kai pulled himself more upright.

"Come on then, you modest bastard, let's see this "little" then!" Ray nodded, sitting down next to Kai. He rested the end of the guitar on the arm of the sofa and set about tuning it. That done, he looked at Kai and grinned broadly.

"Let's go!"

Ray's fingers were nothing but a blur on the strings. Kai watched in undisguised awe, all thoughts of drink driven from his mind as Ray pounded out a popular rock song, note perfect. With a final chord, Ray stopped, panting, and looked to Kai for approval.

"Bloody hell!" Ray snorted with laughter.

"Is that good or bad?"

"Bloody good!" Kai exclaimed. A thought hit him. "What about singing along?" Ray shrugged, picking the guitar up again.

"Okay." He hummed quietly for a minute, plucking at various strings, then nodded in satisfaction. "All right then. This one's a slow one. I can't sing along to rock." He played the introduction, then closed his eyes.

"People say that you're useless,

They say you're a nobody,

But you're not a nobody,

To this somebody."

Once again, Kai looked in absolute awe. Ray's quiet voice sang on. Rich, strong, with a hint of what Kai had heard described as "smokiness". His fingers slipped easily over the strings as he sang, head bowed, yet not looking at what he was playing, eyes closed.

Listen, you stupid boy! Ebony hissed, jumping up onto his lap. You've missed half the song!

"You're hard, you're cold,

You're selfish and recklessly bold.

But there's something inside of you,

That helps me carry on…."

Ray's fingers started to move faster as the song moved into the final stage. For just a second, his eyes flickered open to check his fingering, then closed again as he took a deep breath, the instrumental ending, the song building, rising…

"Maybe you're not the person I think you are.

Maybe everyone else is right.

But I don't care, I don't give a damn.

You're everything to me.

You're the one I want to wake up next to,

The one I love more than anything else,

You're the reason I'm still here,

You're not a nobody…

You're a somebody…

To me."

The song hung in the air as Ray slowly, softly, played the final chords. Silence fell. Ray slowly opened his eyes and blew out a long breath.

"Whoa. I haven't sung that one in a while. Mind you, I haven't played for a while either." He turned to Kai, a faint smile on his face as he saw Kai's astounded expression. "So, what did you think?"

"Fucking hell! You could make a living with that voice, Ray!"

"I did think about it once or twice, but I love blading too much." Ray answered. "What about you? You could make a bomb with your carving."

"That's just a hobby."

"You mean you don't love blading?" Ray teased. Kai's face darkened.

"No. I don't." Ray couldn't stop a gasp from escaping. "I blade because I've never known anything else, no other reason."

"Then why don't you stop?" Ray challenged. Kai frowned as he tried to come up with an answer. He shook his head, defeated. "I'll tell you why." Ray said. "It's because you do love blading. You need it, same as the rest of us. While you blade, you can't think of anywhere else in the world you'd rather be. You think Dranzer would stay with you if you didn't truly love blading, and him?" Kai scowled.

"I hate sensible people." he grunted and threw a cushion at Ray. Within seconds, a fully-fledged pillow fight was going. Ebony retreated to the safety of the hallway and watched with motherly pride.

They're acting like kittens. she thought fondly to herself.


Two hours later, at approximately quarter to twelve, Ray stood up, stretching lazily and brushing feathers off his lap.

"I'm going to phone the guys now, then I think I'm off to bed. What about you?" Kai rolled over from where he was slumped on the arm and looked blearily up at Ray.

"Huh?"

"Bed for you too, I think." he sniggered. Kai raised himself shakily upright.

"I'm not normally this tired-" he began.

"Yeah, I know." Ray said cheerfully. "Remember, I'm the one who used to wake up at three in the morning in the hotels and try to persuade you to get to bed!" Kai grinned. "So, I'll just phone the guys, then I'll see you in the morning, I guess?" Kai nodded.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" he said suddenly. "The bathroom's next to your bedroom. The door on the right."

"Thanks, I might've been kinda stuck without that!" Ray laughed. He turned and walked into the corridor.

"Hello?"

"Heya, this is Mr Granger. Who's callin'?"

"Hi Gramps, it's Ray."

"Yo, Ray, my man! How you doin'?"

"Fine, thanks."

"Cool. You'll be a wantin' to talk to ma grandson an' the rest, eh?"

"Yeah, please." There was a lot of scuffling at the other end, then Tyson's grandfather's voice rang out again.

"Wake up, ma peeps! It's your homeboy, Ray on the line!" Ray grinned, imagining the others dragging Tyson out of bed by his ears. A faint cry of "Stations, everybody!" rang out from the other end of the phone, followed by a lot more scuffling, then:

"Hey, Ray!"

"Hey, Tyson! What the heck you doing in bed at ten o'clock at night?" Ray demanded teasingly.

"We were gonna ask him the same thing." a second voice chuckled. Ray looked at the phone in bewilderment.

"Hello Max - Wait, wasn't Tyson on a minute ago?"

"Yep." The sound of muffled giggling reached Ray's ears.

"Oh for heavens sake, guys! Just tell him already!" Kenny's exasperated voice rang out.

"Oh, okay, Chief." Tyson said sullenly. "Right-"

"Tyson's house has three phones-" Max interrupted.

"So we're on different ones-"

"So that we can all-"

"Talk to you at the same time-"

"Which means-"

"That Tyson doesn't hog the phone 24/7." Kenny finished, stopping the two over-excited boys mid-sentence. "I'm sorry about them, Ray. You'd think they were five years old, the way they're acting at the moment!"

"Chief, we're World Champions!" Tyson yelled. "We're entitled to a little celebration!"

"Yeah, exactly!" Max agreed enthusiastically. "But, enough about us, how are you doing?"

"Yeah, living with the sourpuss can't be a barrel of laughs." Tyson chortled. Ray grinned. Hearing them again was good... "Oy Ray, you still there or what?" Ray blinked.

"Sorry Tyson. It's, like, midnight over here. I'm exhausted."

"What are you still doing up at twelve o'clock at night?" Kenny shrieked.

"Umm, being awake? I'm a big boy, Kenny. You don't have to tell me what to do."

"Yeah, he tells me instead!"

"You deserve it, Tyson." Ray and Kenny said in unison. "Hey, Max, you still on the line?"

"Uh-huh. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, sure." Ray replied. He could hear a lot of moaning from Tyson, but Kenny managed to shut him up by suggesting that they go and give Dragoon a tune-up.

"Brill! Okay, seeya, Ray!"

"'Night, Ray." Ray groaned good-naturedly at the unsubtle hint.

"'Night, Kenny, see you later Tyson." There was a clunk as Tyson dropped the phone. Then silence for a few seconds.


"All right, Ray. How many have you had, how bad, and what did Kai do?"

"Huh?"

"Don't play innocent with me, Ray." Max said sternly. "Answer the questions."

"Hello? Is this the same sugar high Maxie that was on a minute ago? 'Cause if not, where'd he go?" Ray bluffed, playing for time.

"Ray, even Tyson noticed there was something wrong with you today. He's sitting in the kitchen giving me the "what's up with him?" look right now. I want an answer." Ray sighed. He should have known Max would be like this. Underneath the hyper, dumb blond exterior, Max was incredibly tuned in to his friends, and would turn serious at the slightest hint of a problem. Apart from Lee, Max was probably the person who knew the most about what Ray was going through.

"Ray. Answer me. Now."

"All right, all right! In order, two, one pretty bad, one passing-out-for-an-hour-and-a-half bad, and Kai made me lie down."

"Glad to see somebody's got their head screwed on the right way round. What did you do to make yourself pass out for that long?"

"I-"

"Oh, hold on a sec." Silence for few seconds. "Kenny says to ask you whether you were beyblading?"

"Yeah."

"Bit stupid, huh? Can't say I blame you though. I'd have done the same thing. So, you all right now?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good."

"Did you know, Kai's got a cat?"

"He has?"

"Uh-huh. It's called Ebony."

"Cool!"

"Yeah, it doesn't seem to like me much, though."

"Just feed it. It works with Tyson!" Max collapsed into giggles. Ray laughed, imaging Tyson's face if he'd heard.

"Okay, Max, I'm gonna get off now. Talk to you some other time, yeah?"

"Yup. See you later, then - Tyson, let go!" Ray put the phone down, laughing silently, paused for a second, and dialled the village number, hoping that one of the White Tigers would pick up.

"Hello?" a rough voice answered. Ray grinned. Perfect.

"Hey, Lee."

"Ray!" Lee exclaimed delightedly. "How you doing, mate?"

"Um…trying to think of a word that isn't "fine"?" Ray said sheepishly. Lee laughed.

"Yeah. So, what you bin doing?"

"You want the quick answer?"

"Okay."

"All right. I've had a jolt twice, which was very embarrassing, met Kai's cat, and watched Kai get drunk." Lee burst out laughing. "Oh yeah, and I showed off my musical skills."

"Cool. So, what's the cat like?"

"Temperamental, possessive, doesn't really know what to make of me, although we've had some conversations."

"In Cat?"

"Mostly, but, guess what?"

"What?"

"She can talk Human, and guess who else can?"

"What? Kai can mind talk!"

"Yep."

"Whoa. So, Kai got drunk, huh?"

"Yep."

"Lightweight." Lee scoffed.

"I don't think so. A bottle of vodka and five cans of beer is lightweight?"

"Ah. Right. On a scale of 1-10, with 10 as out for the count, what was he?"

"I don't know…maybe about a four or five? Sensible enough to have a pillow fight for two hours."

"Hm. Not bad." Lee commented nonchalantly. "What's up with you, then?" Ray froze.

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"Come on, Ray. Spill! And I don't mean about the jolt!"

"There's nothing wrong with me!" Ray protested. Silence from the other end showed that Lee wasn't giving up. "All right." Ray sighed. "Do you promise not to tell anyone?"

"I swear by Galeon." Lee said solemnly.

"IloveKaiwhatthehellamIgoingtodoLee?"

"Whoa, slow down, Ray! Say that again." Ray swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I. Love. Kai." he repeated. There was a long silence.

"Fuck." Lee said matter-of-factly. "Hey, Ray, are you all right?" Ray tried to reply but had to concentrate on staying awake as a wave of drowsiness flowed over him. With an effort, he answered.

"Yeah…just a bit tired…it's kinda late over here." Lee took charge.

"Right. This is what we're gonna do. You're gonna turn in before you collapse, and I'm gonna think about…what you just said. Phone me back whenever you wanna talk, I'm not sleeping much at the moment. Now, go to bed!" The phone began to buzz. Lee had hung up. Ray looked blearily at the phone, then hung it up and, yawning, made his way back to the bedroom and collapsed into bed.


Well? Opinions? If anyone's wondering about the song, don't report me, because I wrote it myself (hence the crapness) Review, please! Pretty please!